FAA on Thursday released the long-awaited Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) Out final rule, outlining avionics equipage performance requirements by 2020.
FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt and Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood briefed the media in a morning teleconference, touting the issuance of the final rule as a big step in the transition to the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen). The publication of the rule in the Federal Register comes nearly three years after a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) was issued in 2007.
The final rule incorporates industry comments including those to the the NPRM and those to the Aviation Rulemaking Committee formed in 2007 to provide a forum for industry to discuss the rule. Changes in the final rule include issues involving antenna diversity, transmit power, latency and navigation accuracy. Under the final rule, operators will have two options for equipage –– the 1090 megahertz (MHz) extended squitter (ES) broadcast link or the Universal Access Transceiver (UAT).
Babbitt said the cost of the rule to industry is estimated at $2.1 billion to $4.1 billion. "ADS-B is a supercharger, but you must have the equipment," he said. "The more aircraft that are equipped the more effective ADS-B becomes."